2017 Annual General Ordinary Congress of the International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) in Nanjing (China)

Destination: China

The Hilton Riverside of Nanjing, China, hosted the annual general ordinary congress of the International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS). The delegates, coming from over 100 national federations, members of the FIRS, had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Skating of the FIRS (opened in September 2016) as well as the facilities and fittings of the 2017 Roller Games. Nanjing confirmed its status of skating capital of the world.
Sabatino Aracu (Italy) was once more in the running for the presidency of the FIRS, which he has been presiding since 2006. He presented a team with new faces and was confident in their abilities to manage the issues of the upcoming years: the Olympic dream with skateboarding in Tokyo 2020, as well as the possible introduction of other skating disciplines at the Youth Olympics of Buenos Aires in 2018, and of course, the first two editions of the Roller Games..

The Newcomers

Newcomers are entering the team, but none of them is new to the world of skating: they all have widely contributed to the development of skating in the last years.The vice-presidency was open with two candidates in the running, South Americans Ricardo Grin (Argentina — Head of the CeNARD, Argentina’s National Center of High Performance Athletics, and vice-president of the Argentinian Skating Confederation) and Mr Moacyr Neuenschwander Junior (Brazil — president of the Brazilian Confederation of Hockey and Skating).

Over half of the members have been renewed and we can spot the segmentation of the freestyle discipline between the slalom and the aggressive parts.

The Renewed Members of Sabatino Aracu’s Team

Siegried Ziestler

FIRS Roller Alpine and Downhill Committee

• Born: 21 march 1959
• Country: Germany

Mr Ziestler’s first encounter with Alpine skating goes back to the 2000’s, when the discipline wasn’t yet recognized.From his beginnings in the European Committee of Alpine Skating, to the World Inline Alpine Committee (WIAC) and the recognition by the FIRS of the Roller Alpine & Downhill Committee in 2015, Mr Ziegler has dedicated 15 years to the development of this discipline.

Eddie Chua

FIRS Inline Freestyle Technical Committee

• Born:  3. September 1966
• Country: Singapore

Mr Chua has been in charge of freestyle skating for many years. He was the co-founder of the new ruleset in 2003, and has been involved in the industry of skating for over 20 years.
He has been the organizer of the world championships of the discipline (World Inline Freestyle Skating Championships) for the last 10 years. He is the president of the Roller Sports Federation in Singapore and a member of the CARS EB.

Olivier Pascal

(Taking over Titus Dittmann)

FIRS Skateboarding Technical Committee

• Born: 25 June 1979
• Country: France

Skateboard was his very first sport in 1985 and quickly became a passion. Since then, he’s always carried his skateboard everywhere with him, and today, he still practices with his 5-year-old son.
In 2001, Mr Pascal joined Hurricane Action Sport Company and took part in the development of the FISE, launching the FISE National Series in France, and later the FISE World Series. Today, he is the head of International Development.Olivier was previously chairman of Freestyle and switches today to the skateboarding Committee.

Jorge Ivan Roldan Perez

FIRS Speed Technical Committee

• Born: 21 November 1969
• Country: Colombia

Mr Roldan entered the world of skating in 1995, as the manager of “Escuelas de iniciacion y formacion depor?va” and the sports director of “Liga de An?oquia”. He took the head of the national speed technical committee in 2015, and became the sport director of the Colombian Skating Federation, in which he was also elected as the vice-president in 2008, and still is today. Mr Roldan was appointed as the head of the speed skating technical committee in 2014.

The New Members of Sabatino Aracu’s Team

Nicola Genchi

(Taking over Margarett Brooks)

FIRS Artistic Committee

• Born: 27. May 1970
• Country: Italy

Artistic skater from 1979 to 1989 in free, compulsory and pair competitions, Mr Genchi has been a national judge (Italy) of the discipline since 1989, and a FIRS international judge since 1998.
In 2015, he entered the FIRS Artistic Skating Technical Committee and has been organizing technical meetings for international judges since 2010. He took part in the conception of the RollArt Software, the judging software for competitions.

Alberto Lastrucci

(Taking over Gilbert Portier)

• Born: 11 July 1953
• Country: France

Mr Lastrucci has been involved in the world of roller hockey since the mid-1990’s, when the discipline emerged in France, as a coach, a national judge since 1999 and a member of the French Committee of Roller Hockey.
In 2010, together with Mr Blanchet, they created the World Master Cup dedicated to over 38 skaters.

Carmelo Paniagua Manso

(Taking over Harro Strucksberg)

FIRS Rink Hockey Technical Committee

• Born: July 12th, 1958
• Country: Spain

Former rink hockey skater and coach, Mr Paniagua has been part of the skating world since his childhood. Elected in 2005 as the RFEP president, he has also been the vice-president of the Spanish Olympic Committee since 2010. He was a member of the FIRS Speed Technical Committee until 2008, and in 2016 he was appointed Manager of the protocole within the FIRS. Last but not least, he is also the president of the Organization Committee of the 2019 Roller Games in Barcelona. 

Fernando Regueiro

FIRS Roller Derby Technical Committee

• Born: 9. October 1975
• Country: USA

Mr Regueiro has been involved in roller derby for over 10 years, taking on several leadership positions, with the promotion of the discipline at heart. he was a member of the executive committee of the US Federation, and a member of the Technical Committee. He is also the general manager of the Chicago Red Hots. Before that, he worked with the Windy City Rollers for 6 years.

Read Fernando Regueiro’s Interview Here

Idroose Tambarin

FIRS Roller Freestyle Technical Committee

• Born: 9 June 1977
• Country: Malaysia

Mr Tambarin entered the skating world in the early 1990’s in Kuala Lumpur, as an aggressive skater. He was sponsored by an international sports brand to become their ambassador in 2001, and had the opportunity to be the manager of a skatepark in one of the biggest shopping centers in Kuala Lumpur. In 2010, he created MARS, the entity recognizing skating in Malaysia.

Candidates to the Vice-Presidency of the FIRS

Ricardo Grin

• Born: 5 may 1952
• Country: Argentina

Mr Grin is a sports leader with wide experience, both at national and international levels. He was sports assistant secretary, president of the speed skating national committee and of the Argentinian Federation. He was also a member of the FIRS Speed Technical Committee and the president of the Speed Committee of the Pan-American Confederation. He is currently the head of the CeNARD (Argentina’s National Center of High Performance Athletics) and vice-president of the CAP (Argentinian Skating Confederation).

Moacyr Neuenschwander Junior

• Born: 12 February 1960
• Country: Brasil

Over the last 46 years, Mr Neuenschwander has been an international rink hockey player, main coach and sports manager. President of the Brazilian Confederation of Roller Sports since 2005 (re-elected until 2020), he has also been a member of the Technical Committee of Rink Hockey. As the president of the Brazilian Confederation, he has organized 2 world championships of artistic skating and rink hockey.

Links

The FIRS, the International Federation of Roller Sports: From its origins to our time

2015 Annual Congress of the FIRS